It's official: NFL will use replacements for Week 1

The NFL will open the regular season next week with replacement officials and said it was prepared to use them "as much ... as necessary" afterward.

Replacements will be on the field beginning Wednesday night when the Dallas Cowboys visit the New York Giants in the season opener, league executive Ray Anderson told the 32 teams in a memo. Negotiations are at a standstill between the NFL and the officials' union.

The NFL Referees Association was locked out in early June, and talks on a new collective bargaining agreement have gone nowhere. Replacements have been used throughout the preseason, with mixed results.

In 2001, the NFL used replacements for the first week of the regular season before a contract was finalized. The speed of the game and the amount of time starters are on the field increase exponentially for real games, making the replacements' task more challenging.

Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, told the clubs in a memo yesterday that the replacements will work "as much of the regular season as necessary," adding that training with each crew will continue.

The NFL noted it has expanded the use of instant replay this year to include all scoring plays and turnovers. Officiating supervisors will be on hand to assist the crews on game-administration issues.

IR CHANGE, NEW TRADE DEADLINE APPROVED: The players' union has approved a rule change that will allow one designated player to return from injured reserve and play this season.

The NFL Players Association also agreed to move the league's trading deadline back two weeks to after games in Week 8.

NFL owners voted for both changes in May. But the union had to sign off on them and did so today, six days before the regular season kicks off.

One "marquee" player placed on injured reserve will be able to return to practice after the sixth week of the schedule and to the lineup after the eighth week. That player must be on the 53-man roster after the final preseason cut, which comes tomorrow.

Moving the trade deadline could create more action than in the past, when teams rarely moved players at the deadline.

WINGTIP OF DOLPHINS' CHARTER STRIKES OTHER JET: A Miami Dolphins charter plane preparing to leave Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport after the team's 30-13 preseason loss to the Cowboys clipped the tail of a parked jet while being pushed back for takeoff.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said both American Airlines jets were damaged early today. Lunsford said nobody was hurt and that the incident is under investigation.

American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said the winglet of a Boeing 767 clipped the tail of an empty MD-80. The incident happened in a nonoperational area where American provides charter service.

Both jets were taken out of service for inspection. Huguely had no further details on damage.

She said a replacement American jet carrying the Dolphins arrived in Miami around 7:30 a.m. EDT today.

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